


Invitations Only

by SpoonOfSugar



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bi-Curiosity, Bickering, Bottom Ethan, Cat Cafés, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, First Meeting, Grumpy Mark, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Maids, Slow Burn, Tension, Top Mark, Unrequited Love, Weddings, cry baby ethan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27422824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpoonOfSugar/pseuds/SpoonOfSugar
Summary: Ethan's life has been quite a roller coaster so far, having been in unrequited love with his best friend for most of his teenage years, to now being invited to said best friends wedding.And let's not even get started on all the stuff in between.-----------------------------------I promise this is a happy fic with love, comedy and cat maid cafes.
Relationships: Amy Nelson/Tyler Scheid, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 56
Kudos: 153





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope everyone enjoys this, im enjoying writing it, just a little side note I am not a great writer and I am dyslexic so feel free to point out mistakes on my spelling, grammar and ill try my best to correct them! 
> 
> Thank you!

He was hurting pretty bad at this point. It was a warm summer afternoon and Ethan had just finished his classes for the day, Tyler had said to meet him out front of the school so they could walk home together, but he had changed his plans around 20 minutes ago texting Ethan he was walking home with _her_ instead. He hated how it made him feel, he hated her. Guilt washed over him as he thought about what a angel she is and how he really had no reason to hate her. **_If she was dead he would be with me- that’s not true- he doesn’t even like boys- there would just be another girl._**

Clutching his bag strap tighter as though he was imitating the way his heart felt like it was being crushed with Tyler’s very own hands, he set off home.

Crossing the road opposite the school, he had decided he would walk home through the park, even though it took longer, he wouldn’t have to walk too near the other kids from school. He popped a earphone into his ear as he turned his head to look back at the school. His breath hitched as he caught a sight of Tyler’s tall figure bent down kissing... her. Quickly whipping his head back Ethan felt his cheek redden and his heart ache, he wasn’t a man who believed deeply in the universe sending him messages, but if he was he would surely believe this one wanted him dead.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

_Time doesn’t stop for anyone, life moves on even if you wish it didn’t, even if you regret the time you have wasted._

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

Ethan sat at his small apartments window with a hot mug of coffee in one hand and a wedding invitation in the other. He looked over the words, again and again the fancy cursive font staring back at him.

**Tyler Schied and Amy Nelson Invite you to their wedding. 12 o’clock in the afternoon. June 12th 20XX.**

The invitation was high quality printed, the gold leafs that framed the text where stunning and made the card look elegant and pricey. Even though it had been years since Ethan had even spoken to Tyler he was still someone Tyler thought worthy of inviting to his wedding. He turned over the card in his hand where there was a space to put his name and if he will be attending (and a spot for a plus one, but he ignored that.) Inside the luxurious black envelope was menu for the guests to choose their meals and to inform them if you have any allergies. Ethan had stared at the black ink that had already filled out that he had a peanut allergies, he recognised it as Tyler’s handwriting, before shoving the menu back inside the envelope.

He stared out of his window watching the city of Los Angeles as he collected his thoughts. He ignored the envelope until he came back home from his late night shift, it was three in the morning and he figured it was a great idea to fill the thing in ‘yes he would be attending,’ run to his mail box and post it before chickening out.

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

Ethan wasn’t sure whether he should ever admit to himself that he loves his job or not, since he always thought it wasn’t really a job his parents would be proud of him for doing. Even though he had spoke to them briefly about his current career and they had just expressed that they wanted Ethan to be happy. He was happy. He packed his uniform up before setting off to work. Often times he thought about just getting ready at home and then setting off to work in his uniform, he realized with his type of uniform and the possibility of getting pulled over or breaking down wouldn’t result in a very appealing circumstance. He parked at the back of the large building that had bright neon pink lights spelling out “KittyAholic".

The sun was being to set and most of the nine-to-fivers were finishing their office work and were out looking for a good time after a long and boring day. Ethan gathered his stuff together, locked his car door and set off towards the back entrance of the building.

“Hey Eth!” Ethan span around and saw his favourite co-worker Mika happily jogging towers him before bumping into him and gripping his arm to support her as she steadied herself in her high heels. Mika was a different breed and often turned up to work in her uniform clearly not having the same worries as Ethan. He always admired her for her ability to not give a shit about what others though of her.

“You ready for a good shift!” she said cheerfully entering the building being him.

“Sure.” He said aloof shrugging his shoulders.

Mika paused , “You okay Eth?”

He signed, now outside the bathroom where he got changed. “Can I say no and yes?”

She patted him on the shoulder, smiling softly, “Get changed and then we can rant.” With that she walked off towards the front of the building where the bar was located.

Ethan entered the bathroom, the smell of woman’s perfume and lemon citrus hit his nose. He pulled out his uniform, it was a cat maid outfit, clearly made for a woman, but Ethan hadn’t been the first male they had employed at this establishment, but he was probably the most feminine of the ones he currently worked alongside. He also liked to add makeup to his kitty maid outfit feeling like it helped getting him more in a character and not just being Ethan is a maid outfit. He changed, adding his cat ears and make up last, he also enjoyed wearing large platform boots as it looked good with his over the knee tights. He found his name badge at the bottom of his backpack, the pin was still open from when he had dropped it into his bag after the last shift he'd done. Cursing at his past self when he pricked his finger trying to get the damn thing. He looked at the name printed, it read “Koneko" meaning little cat in Japanese. Everyone had Japanese themed nicknames and as Ethan was the smallest male they had hired, Little cat it was. He didn’t hate the name, it took a little while to get used to it being something people addressed him as to get his attention while he waited tables.

Walking out on to the restaurant floor, name badge attached, he headed towards where Mika was stood. She was at the bar mixing up some customer's drink. They had opened a hour ago and it was already getting pretty busy. It was the only Cat Maid themed restaurant in LA so it gained a lot of attraction, people wanted to see for themselves if they really had girls and boys dress up in maid outfits. Ethan is sure people tell their friends they only come for the Japanese themed cuisine, but if that were true Ethan wouldn’t spend half his job being playfully flirted at by both men and woman.

“Hey you.” Mika said turning to face Ethan before handing the drink she was working on over to the paying customer, adding a flirty wink which caused the customer to giggle as they walked off. “So you want to talk about what is getting you down? Because I cannot work a shift with a grumpy Eth, that just doesn’t fit your aesthetic Koneko.”

She particularly purred his stage name. Mika used to be good at making Ethan blush, but he was used to her flirty ways now. She really was great at her job.

“You remember that guy I told you about.. from High school?”

“Oh Tyler? The boy you were hopelessly in love with for like 3 years?” Her saying it so nonchalantly cause Ethan’s heart to ache. “What about him?”

“Well..” Ethan stalled scratching the back of his neck, right where his kitty collar rubbed. “He invited me to his and his High school sweethearts wedding...” he trailed off awkwardly not able to look at Mika’s expression.

“HE WHAT?” she gasped. “What a dick." She said under her breath, almost to quiet for Ethan to hear over the beat of the JPop playing in the restaurant.

“Obviously you aren’t going right?” she said, her tone changing at the end as another customer came up to the bar and she smiled at them.

Ethan looked down at his platform boots, banging the heels together, “Well I kinda already... said yes.”

Mika fake smile towards the customer she was serving got wider and scarier as Ethan watched her face, she finished up serving them before, turning quietly to Ethan, grabbed him by the shoulder and said “Why are you such a mess?”

“...I wish I knew.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention in the first chapter this story was inspired by the song Heather by Conan Gray, amazing song go check it out!
> 
> Anyway thank you for the support!

The shift was going pretty well so far, Ethan's cat tail had only been pulled on twice and no one had called him the F slur so far, which was a usually for a shift despite the sign above the bar saying “please don’t abuse the staff”. He had just finished billing a table of four very flirty men when his boss came up to him.

  
“Koneko new people in at table 11.” He stated before walking off. The boss was a small chubby Japanese man who was genuinely very sweet most of the time but under a busy shift and stress could turn into a dragon, he didn’t wear a maid outfit, being the only one wearing a suit. Which Ethan supposed made it easier for people to tell who the manager was.

  
Ethan had mumbled out a ‘yes sir' before finishing putting the money from his last table in the till and the tip they had given in the shared tip jar. He’s sure not everyone puts their tips in the sharing jar, but Ethan always felt bad when customer would leave him a large tip, he worked with such good staff who were always willing to help him out, he didn’t have the heart to not split that tip.

  
Fixing his hair in the small mirror next to the sink at the bar and adjusting the cat ears on his head he headed over to table 11. He reached into his apron pocket as he arrived at the table not yet looking at the people sat there.

  
“Hi I am Koneko, I'll be at your service today-" He had said these words so many times it really was really hard to be enthusiastic about it with every new table especially when it got towards the end of his shift, his kitty collar was itching and his feet where sore.

  
“-Ethan?” He recognised that voice, his blood ran cold, looking up to meet the eyes of the person who had just said his real name while he was dress as a freaking cat maid. It was Tyler. The air had gone from Ethan’s lungs as he tried to say something, anything.

  
“You work here?” Tyler asked, probably unaware of the brain lag he’d just caused Ethan to have. Tyler seemed amused at this situation as he looked over at his soon to be wife and the stranger sat with them, Ethan hadn’t even noticed anyone else was there until now.

  
Ethan finally tore his eyes away and looked over at Amy and the other guest they had brought. She smiled brightly at him, her eyes flicking down to his uniform every now and then. The person that was with them Ethan didn’t recognise, he wore a bored expression on his face, only looking at Ethan’s face before turning away uninterested.

  
“Hi...” Ethan eventually managed to get out. STUPID, STUPID BRAIN. 

  
“You look so cute!” Amy said resting her chin on her hand, it was a genuine compliment, but it still made Ethan’s cheeks burn bright.

  
Clearing his throat the stranger chimed in, “So are we ordering food or what?” His voice was deep and smooth, but he sounded genuinely uninterested with whatever was happening between his friends and a guy dressed as a cat maid. Despite his rudeness Ethan felt grateful for his assistance in moving the conversation towards something he could actually used to excuse himself from this awful moment in his life.

  
“Someone’s hungry,” Tyler said winking at his fiancé, she laughed bumping shoulders with the bored man’s own.

  
“Marks always hungry.” She giggled holding up the menu.

  
Ethan cleared his throat, “Sorry... Could I have your drink orders?” 

  
“Sure Ethan, I’ll have a black coffee, what do you want sweetheart?” Tyler leaned over the table to address Amy.

  
“I’ll have a lemonade, thank you Ethan.”  
Ethan quickly scribbled down their orders and waited for Mark to tell him what he wanted, looking up from his pad after a long pause of silence, he met Marks almond shaped eyes, a beautiful dark brown. 

  
“Koneko...” His voice sounded even deeper now, if Ethan could blush any more then he already was he would be a neon pink like the sign hanging outside the building. Mark leaned forward, “I’ll just have a glass of water.”

  
Ethan teared his eyes away from Marks intense stare and scribbled it down on his pad before thanking everyone, grabbing the menus and speed walking away. 

  
━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

  
Charging into the back of the restaurants kitchen, almost knocking over one of his co-workers as she tried to carry out a tray full of food, he apologise as he made his was to Mika, who was arguing with one of the asshole chefs about how the food someone had ordered wasn’t cooked to the way they liked it. 

  
“Mika you’ve got to save me!” he sounded a mess, and he thought back to the question Mika had asked him at the start of the shift, how ironic. 

  
Mika still wore a scary ‘don’t mess with me look' she used on the chefsnwhen she turned to Ethan, her expression quickly changed when she saw him.

  
“Yo, you okay dude?” 

  
“No!” he shouted causing the kitchen staff to turn and look at him, he blushed grabbing Mika's arm and pulling her to side.

  
“He's here.” He could hear himself, he sounded like a god damn mad man.

  
“Who?”

  
“Tyler!”

  
“TYLER?” The kitchen staff turned toward them again. “Where?”

  
Ethan made a dramatic sobbing noise as he lent his head against the cool kitchen wall. “Table 11.”

  
“Did he recognise you?” She sounded almost like she was excited about the drama that was unfolding before her, Ethan couldn’t blame her, his life was one big joke anyway.

  
“Yes...” he mumbled.

  
Mika giggled and Ethan shot her a glare from where his head was still against the kitchen wall, the condensation from the hot air meeting the cool tile walls started to drip down his forehead so he moved away before it messed up his make up.

  
“Sorry its just,” she stifled a laugh. “I actually can’t believe it, wait I gotta see him.” She pushed past him and through the kitchen door, Ethan was in hot pursuit.

  
Luckily Table 11 was at the other side of the restaurant so they wouldn’t notice a very enthusiastic Mika bobbing her head about like a pigeon to get a good look.

  
“Which one is he?”

  
“The tall one.”

  
“Oh... The other guy is way hotter,” She sounded disappointed.

  
Ethan turned to make the drink orders for the table at the bar, the restaurant was slowly getting less busy as it was getting closer to closing time.

  
“Hes rude.” Was all Ethan said, ignoring the flutter of his stomach as he remembered the sound of Mark’s voice saying his stage name. 


	3. Chapter 3

When Ethan had returned to the table with their drinks and had apologise for being so awkward and unfriendly. He explained he was a little due caught off guard. Tyler had been understanding and Amy had apologised for throwing him off his job. Mark had stayed silent. After that they had ordered fries and some bowls of ramen to share between them, telling Ethan they weren’t really out for a meal, but more for finalising wedding plans. It had been Amy's idea to come to KittyAholic, she had seen it advertised and was curious.

  
“So you’re coming to the wedding?” Tyler had asked, his question left no room for ‘No's’ or ‘ _well you see_...'. Ethan was partly glad he had signed yes on the invoice now.

  
“I am yes.” He could hear the panic in his own voice and hoped no one else noticed. He felt Marks gaze burns into him as he tried to stay focused on Tyler.

  
Amy clapped her hands together “We are so happy to have you there!” she beamed at him, Ethan felt bad for all the ways he had imagined her dying (peacefully mind you,) just so he could of been all up on her man. He cringed at the thought of being in high school again.

  
“Oh!” Amy piped up. “We also want to apologise for using your real name before.” She said sounding more hushed towards the end, like she was telling him a secret.  
Ethan raised an eyebrow at her before she continued.

  
“Mark pointed it out...” she trailed off, looking sheepish “You obviously have a stage name for a reason.”

Ethan must have looked confused, causing Amy to try and explain further.

  
“...Well-"

  
“-We don’t want you getting stalked because of us being so careless.” Tyler had finished. ‘Like true lovebirds,’ thought the sarcastic side of Ethan brain said.

  
There was a beat of silence as Ethan's two brain cells worked overtime. He held the circular drinks tray to his chest, this was a habit of his when talking to customers, he had learnt it was a comfort thing. No one seemed to mind him doing it though since it fit his ‘cutesy’ cat maid persona.

  
“OH!” He eventually said a little to loud and enthusiastic, causing the table near them to turn to stare in their direction. “That’s very considered of you guys, Thank you.”

  
“Thank Mark.” Tyler said gesturing over to where the other man sat at the table.

  
Ethan could feel his cheeks start to turn pink again, gripping the front of his maid uniform with the hand that wasn’t hugging the tray to his chest he said “Thank you, Mark.” His name felt heavy on Ethan's tongue. Maybe it was because they had just met or maybe it was the overwhelming presence Mark had. Ethan didn’t really want to dwell to much on that thought.

  
Mark had just huffed in agreement before going back to eating his noodles. Ethan could feel his patience running thin with this guy.

  
Before he could get himself into anymore trouble he heard the call of his stage name and was whisked away to do a thousand and one other jobs. Eventually Tyler (and gang) asked for the bill, paid, left a tip and said their goodbye’s and ‘see you at the wedding’. He noticed Mark rake his eye over Ethan's form one last time before leaving.

  
━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━  
Ethan was exhausted when he finally arrived home, it was around one in the morning and he could barely keep his eyes open as he removed his makeup and did his skincare before curling himself up into bed. 

  
Sleep came easy, but his dreams where wild, dark eyes looking into his soul as strong hands held him. Pleasure and pain mixing into one spiral as he thrashed under this heavy body. A deep masculine voice rumbling through him, he was at the command of this being and Ethan liked it.

  
He woke up in a cold sweat, looking over at his clock which read in a bold blue ’03:46’. ‘ _fuck_ ,’ He whispered softly to himself as he grabbed his phone off the bedside table. He text Mika all about his dream, needing to talk about it with someone and was positive Mika would find it highly entertaining, before he passed out asleep again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry this chapter is a bit shorter, I've been working but i wanna try and put something out everyday or every other day! Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

  
_“There is time for work and time for love. That leaves no other time.” – Coco Chanel_

  
━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

  
It had been around 2 weeks since the encounter with Tyler and gang. Ethan tried not to think too much about it, often getting second hand embarrassment from the sheer thought that his High school crush had now seen him in a maid outfit complete with cat ears and tail. He had been glad that Tyler hadn’t questioned the fact he was technically cross-dressing. He had always been so accepting, it made Ethan’s heart ache when he thought perhaps that’s the reason he fell so hard for him.

  
His love for Tyler stared young. Ethan had often been bullied by the other boys for doing gymnastics instead of football. The moment they first met was when Tyler had fought off three boys who where kicking the shit out of Ethan, before picking the smaller boy up and carrying him to the school nurse. I mean honestly how could Ethan not fall in love with him.

  
It was around six in the evening when Ethan answered his phone to a very loud and overly energetic Mika.

  
“You’ll never guess what's just happened!”

  
“Uh... Hello to you too-"

  
“-AND HE ASKED FOR YOU.” Mika sounded like she was running on a treadmill whilst injection speed. Ethan could picture her genuinely doing that, Mika was a different breed.

  
“I’m sorry, what?” Ethan was dumbfounded. He heard Mika suck in a huge breath before trying again.

  
“That hot guy, from the other day, the one who was with your high school crush, was asking after you.”

  
Ethan felt his soul leave his body, he was already sitting on his sofa, but he felt like he needed to _sit down_ again.

  
“Why?” he squeaked out. He heard Mika giggling on the other end.

  
“Dunno, never said.”

  
“Wow you are so helpful,” he replied sarcastically.

  
“Look man-" Her voice was cut off as Ethan heard noises in the background and Mika saying a ‘ _yes sir_ '. “I gotta go Eth, boss caught me, talk to you later bye love you.”

  
Ethen didn’t have chance to reply before Mika hung up. He sat in his living room dazed.   
What would Mark want with him, especially after such a rude introduction, ‘maybe he is homophobic and wants to break my legs.’ Ethan’s mind began to wonder. The way Mark was looking at Ethan that night definitely wasn’t with hate, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on the emotions behind those dark eyes. He tried not to think about it as he started cooking his dinner before sitting on his sofa and selecting a movie to watch while he ate.

  
It was around half an hour into the film and halfway through the spaghetti when Ethan's phone screen lit up. He check it seeing a friend request before unlocking his phone.

  
It read ‘ ** _Mark Fischbach_** ’. Ethan’s tummy flipped. Why was he sending him a friend request, Ethan accepted mostly out of curiosities and definitely not cause Mark looked even the slightest bit attractive in his profile picture. He was smiling in it, it suited him. A minute after accepted a message pop up from the man himself.

  
“Hey, I just wanted to let you know Tyler wanted me invite you too his bachelor party.”  
Mark seemed as miserable in his texting as he did in real life. Ethan read the message again, did he really want to attend a party were he could get drunk and maybe accidentally say how he jerked off to the thought of Tyler pinning him against a wall right before the man’s wedding? The answer to that was obviously no, but Ethan felt happy to be invited to such a special moment in Tyler's, they were best friends for most of their teenager years after all.

  
He decided he would go, replying with a “Sure! I would love too! When is it?” Hoping Mark would just texted back with the information needed for Ethan to book time off work and say where about they were going.

  
Half a second later Ethan was chocking on his spaghetti as a facetime call came in from Mark over the app. Panicking he accepted call whilst still coughing up his dinner.  
“Hey I figured it would be easier to just call-“ Marks voice stopped as he raised an eyebrow at Ethan’s red face, streaming eyes and spluttering cough.

  
“You okay?” Mark asked sounded quite amused at Ethan's current dying form.

  
“Yeah,” Ethan strained out after getting his chocking under control. “Yeah dude, what’s up?”

  
“So the information... for the bachelor party.” Mark sounded just as bored as that night in KittyAholic. Ethan held back rolling his eyes.  
It took around five minutes for Mark to relay the information to him, as Ethan jotted it all down on a piece of paper to make sure his ADHD brain didn’t wipe it from existence. They were going Colorado to Beckenridge Ski resort for a long weekend in around three weeks, plenty of time for Ethan to request it off work, or beg Mika to work his shifts. Whichever worked first.

  
After Ethan had thank him and was about to say goodbye to end of the call, Mark piped up.

  
“So...” There was a pause. “You like wearing dresses?”

  
Ethan was so caught off by this question. He knew Mark would be able to see his expression change and his head whip up from where he had been written down the information .

  
“Wh-what?” He managed to get out.

  
“You wear a dress for a living, I just wondered if you liked it?” Mark’s tone was calm and neutral, but his eyes were burning into Ethan’s even through the bad quality of a facetime call.

  
“Uh,” Ethan stuttered, “well- I don't hate it.” He answered honestly rubbing the back of his neck.

  
“Is it something you do outside of work?” Ethan knew his face was bright red now and that’s cause he could see himself during this stupid facetime call.

  
“Wh-hat do you mean?” Ethan’s stutter was in full force now, it always came out when he was nervous, that and the giggles, though he really didn’t feel like giggling right now.

  
“You know,” Mark pushed. “To go shopping in or about the house... or in the bedroom?”

  
Ethan’s mouth was dry, he put a hand to his cheek to try and hide his face a little bit and gulped to try and wet his throat enough to reply. A drop down notification appeared on his phone, it was a call from Mika.

  
‘ _Saved by the crackhead,’_ he thought before saying “Oh uh sorry I have to go my friend is calling.”

  
He barely gave time for Mark to reply “Okay see you at the party.” Ethan swore he saw Mark smirk before hanging up. He took a deep breath before answering the call from Mika. There was no way he couldn’t tell her what had just happened. He signed as he realised it was going to be a long night and a even longer three weeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again
> 
> Thank you for all the wonderful support ❤   
> Your kind words make me want to continue writing!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you everyone so much for all the support it’s so heartwarming to see 😭 
> 
> ANNND WE GOT FAN ART ✨
> 
> LOOK AT THIS AMAZING FANART OF ETHAN IN HIS CAT MAID OUTFIT
> 
> https://beouburns.tumblr.com/post/635362395800387584/invitations-only-spoonofsugar-youtubers
> 
> Also a huge thank you to my editor/beta reader Geewobbles on tumblr!

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

_Time is an illusion that helps things make sense, So we are always living in the present tense - Adventure Time_

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Three weeks flew by despite Ethan not wanting it too. He was dreading this mini holiday he had agreed to go on. So many things had the possibility of going wrong. Ethan could see himself drunk admitting his past crush on Tyler, getting his bones jumped by Mark, or just genuinely making a fool out of himself.

He had packed his clothes the day before and finished his last shift before his long weekend off. In the end, Mika had taken one of his shifts so that Ethan could recover from the vacation, or as Mika had put it, recover from the gangbang he was about to partake in all weekend long. Ethan had rolled his eyes but couldn't fight the blush on his cheeks at the mental image of being sandwiched between Mark and Tyler. 

Ethan was clocking out from his shift with Mika. They had done the closing shift, and since there had been a private party going on it was getting closer to two in the morning before they had managed to get everyone out, clean, and lock up the building. 

"Thanks again for covering my shift," Ethan said to Mika as he watched her unclip her cat ears. 

"No worries," she winced as one of the clips caught in her hair. "You owe me though!"

"Anything for you my dear," he replied with a bow.

"Stop simping Eth," Mika mockingly acted shy. "You can pay me back with all the _juicy_ details from this vacation."

Ethan signed, "there isn't going to be any juicy details."

They walked towards their cars, Mika holding onto Ethan's arm as he stopped in front of her car first, waiting for her to get into it safely before he left in his. He always wanted to make sure she was safe before he went home. 

"Nah way hot stuff," she winked at him hopping into the front seat of her car. "They won't be able to resist a twink like you." Mika slammed her car door shut giving a little wave before starting her engine.

"HEY!" Ethan shouted at the direction of Mika's car. "I AM NOT A TWINK!" 

"That's what all twinks say!" She shouted back from her car window before pulling off onto the road.

Ethan stood there now embarrassed from the fact he just shouted that out and anyone could have heard. He sighed while rubbing his forehead before getting into his car and heading home.

'This weekend is going to be a long one.'

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Present-Ethan was very happy at Past-Ethan right now for packing absolutely everything he needed so he could sleep as much as possible before leaving for this holiday. His alarm had gone off at six in the morning so he could get ready and set off to LA airport, meaning he got a total of 3 hours sleep. Looking at himself in the mirror wasn't pleasant this morning.

He checked over his apartment, locked his door and windows, called a taxi, got his things together, and headed to the airport. On the way there he figured he should let them know he was on his way, but he only had Mark on any social media. He typed Tyler's name into the search-bar finding his profile and added him, hoping he would accept rather quickly so that Ethan didn't have to rely on texting Mark his location.

His prayers were answered when Tyler accepted around a minute later. A notification soon popped up from him.

**Tyler: morning, you on your way?**

**Ethan: yeah in a cab now shouldn't be too long now**

**Tyler: good :) see you soon**

Ethan felt his tummy flutter with the thought of seeing Tyler again and hanging out like old times. They really had been close and such great friends. Ethan had struggled with his feelings for so long during high school, not wanting to admit them at first or acknowledge his attraction to men. He only really fully accepted himself around a year ago when he started working at KittyAholic. He enjoyed wearing the outfit, though that thought caused heat to rise in Ethans cheek as he remembered Mark's questions.

Mark on the other hand was a whole other issue that made his tummy flutter. He had seemed so rude to Ethan when he had served him, but those questions had seemed so suggestive in Ethans mind. He wondered whether Mark was asking if it was Ethan's fetish and wanted to make fun of him, or whether he was just genuinely curious and trying to make conversation. He couldn’t weigh Mark up and decided it was best to avoid him as much as possible during this weekend away.

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Inside the airport it was busy and bright which hurt Ethan’s very tired eyes. He had messaged Tyler to meet him outside the Starbucks as he was in desperate need of coffee. He ordered a large cappuccino before waiting outside the cafe.

A hand landed on his shoulder making him jump and almost drop his phone. He turned to see Tyler’s smiling face, along with a few other faces he didn't recognise.

"Hey! Good to see you again!" Tyler said, pulling Ethan into a hug. Ethan awkwardly held his coffee away from Tyler so he didn't spill it on him.

"You too, Ty." He replied with a grin.

Tyler gestured behind him "Let me introduce you to the boys!" Ethan giggled and nodded.

"This is Wade and Bob," he stopped and pointed over to the two tall guys who stood off to the side and were also holding coffees. They both said a little hello and sent a nod in Ethans direction. "-and this is Sean and you have already met Mark." Ethan felt himself blush at Mark's name, he gave Mark a small smile, which wasn't returned and looked at the other male with a small bun on his head. 

"Nice to meet ya," Sean said, surprising Ethan with a Irish accent. He held out his hand for Ethan to shake.

"Oh," Ethan said sounding dumb. "Your accent," Sean laughed which made Ethan blush even harder. Sometimes his ADHD made him say things before thinking them through.

"Yes," Sean said grinning widely at him "Irish. Best accent in the world!" 

Ethan felt very comfortable in the presence of Sean and decided that if Tyler wasn't available to stick by, he would try and stay close to Sean. 

They laughed and joked as a group before heading towards the terminal and eventually boarding their flight. 

Ethan wandered up the aisle before finding his seat and sitting down. He was getting comfy for the short flight and was genuinely feeling at ease. Well that was before he saw a certain someone take the seat next to him.

Mark sat down next to Ethan, also getting comfy and spreading his legs wide enough that his knee knocked with his, causing Ethan to suck in a breath.

"Hi," Ethan said, trying to be friendly. His speech came out more breathy than intended.

Mark looked at him, his dark eyes were so close to Ethan now, he could see how the light reflected off them, he could see Mark's whole face in detail, his tanned skin, his stubble, his pink lips. Mark's eye drifted up and down Ethan's form again, just like the time in the restaurant. Ethan felt naked under his gaze.

"Hey," Mark replied, his deep voice sounding like honey to Ethan's ears.

Ethan giggled slightly, cursing himself for always having that reaction when he was nervous. Mark raised an eyebrow before facing forward again. Ethan watched as Mark put his headphones in closed his eyes and signed. He tried not to stare at this man's perfect side profile while he also put his own AirPods in.

_Never mind this being a long vacation, Ethan thought to himself. This is going to be the longest flight of my life._

  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments and likes on this fic!
> 
> Also big thanks to my editor/ beta Geewobbles 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The ski resort was cooler looking then Ethan thought it would be it. The big white peaks looked intimidating from the bottom, but not so steep from the top. They had arrived at around one in the afternoon, after their plane had landed, and Tyler had hired a van to transport everyone and their belongings in. They checked in at the resort and were shown to their cabin which they were staying in. It was close to the ski slope but not so close that they would hear the constant laughter of kids and adults.

Setting his things down in the room Tyler had allocated him, Ethan sighed. He was already exhausted and the fun hadn’t even begun. He had spent most of the plane journey panicking that Mark was going to say something to him, which he never did, and then spent most of the van ride panicked about how he had never actually been skiing before, and what if everyone else could ski and Ethan was gonna make a fool out of himself. His exhausted panic was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Hey Ethan, we are having a few drinks downstairs if you want to join?” A voice said through the door, Ethan couldn’t tell if it was Bob or Wade.

“Yeah sure be down in a minute.” Ethan replied. Breathing in a big sigh, he headed out of his room.

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Upon entering the cabin's main room, Ethan immediately felt the warmth of the log fire someone must have managed to get going on one side of the cabin. Comfy sofas with stylish covers were facing the fire, so Ethan decided to take a seat on one of those and soak in the heat and beauty of the dancing flames.

“You a pyromaniac or something?” Ethan startled at the sudden Irish accent behind him. He wiped his head around to face Sean. 

“Oh sorry Sean,” he stuttered. “I didn’t see you there.”

“You can call me Jack by the way.” Ethan raised an eyebrow but nodded.  _ How do you get Jack from Sean? Must be an Irish thing.  _

“Sean come here a sec,” they both turned in the direction of Mark's deep voice from the kitchen which was in the other half of the cabin. Sean rolled his eyes at Ethan before heading over to where everyone was, standing and mixing their drinks collectively. Ethan took in a deep breath, taking one last glance at the animated flames before heading into the crowd of boys on the other half of the cabin. Wade and Bob looked like they noticed him approaching as they shared a look before turning to fully face Ethan with wicked grins in their faces and what looked like a glass of vodka and sprite. 

“Hey dude, we mixed you a drink.” Wade said, clearly holding in a giggle. He held the drink out to Ethan.

Ethan's heart was beating so fast. This felt too much like those times in high school where people would be fake nice to him just so they could say  **sike** and do something nasty to him. Wade was going to pour this on Ethans head; he was sure of it. He must have looked like a deer stuck in headlights because Bob took the drink from Wade before handing it to Ethan.

“Hey dude, don’t worry it's just strong that’s all,” Bob’s voice was gentle, almost a whisper like he didn’t want the others to hear despite them being right next to him and obviously would have heard him. “We just wanted to see you pull a funny face.” 

Ethan felt his shoulders relax at that. Sure, Bob could still be lying, but it really didn’t feel like he was. So he took the drink from his hand and sucked in a mouthful from the straw. The burn of the vodka hit the back of his throat before he could even taste anything and he pulled a face. Bob and Wade laughed which made Ethan giggle along with them. Maybe this vacation was actually going to be fun.

He was pulled away from his thoughts when he felt a strong arm around his shoulders and a weight on his side almost making him stumble. It was Tyler. He raised his glass before saying, “To marrying the most beautiful woman in the world!” The cabin was filled with cheers from all of them before everyone took a swig of what they were drinking, Ethan now sputtering from the taste. 

“You can’t handle your drink, Ethan?” Sean, or Jack rather, smirked at him. 

He felt Tyler rub his head, messing up his hair, “Sure he can, he works at a bar.”

“Oh really what bar?” Jack asked before Ethan could speak up.

“KittyAholic,” Tyler replied casually before taking the straw from his drink between his lips. 

Jack’s face went from thoughtful to surprised real fast “Wait isn’t that the Maid Cafe thing?” Ethan sighed, looking down at the cabin's wooden floor, wanting to facepalm hard and just walk up the stairs without another word, grab his things and fly away. Or jump in the fire. Either sounded good right then. 

“Yeah it is,” he heard Mark’s deep voice reply now looking up to meet his eyes. “I’m not going to lie, he looks good in a dress.” Ethans face felt like fire. He wanted to look at everyone else’s expressions, but was too fixated on Mark’s gaze. They lost eye contact when Jack slapped Mark in the back making him stumble a bit. 

“Alright horndog- don’t make poor kid die from embarrassment,” Ethan looked back down at the floor, and he couldn’t tell if he was being made fun of or not.

“Hey a job is a job Eth,” Bob said from his side, “and if you do it well, even better!” 

_ So they aren’t making fun of me,  _ he thought to himself. This vacation was probably going to be pretty fun as long as Mark doesn’t kill him with embarrassment. Ethan could one hundred percent survive this.


End file.
